A few people stop to take photos. A dad asks if his preschooler can get in close for a snap. Fair enough. It’s not every lunchtime you see two Olympians mucking around with a ball in front of a giant set of Olympic rings.
Still, none of us expect what’s about to happen next. It starts with a tour guide asking if two of her Chinese clients can have a photo. She says they’re “knocked out” to come across the Olympians. A 20-something man even hops on the spot a few times with excitement.
Then, just as the two posers cuddle in for the shot, the rest of the group realises what’s happening and comes hurtling towards the scene. A photo with a couple of tourists turns into a photo shoot with two dozen. So, who are these two crowd commanding Olympians in Cardiff? Two of our female soccer players.
They’re among a huge group of athletes we pretty much ignore for four years and suddenly find fascinating over the fortnight of the Olympics. Outside of the games, when do ever we take time to watch gymnastics or swimming or sprinting even? Then come the Olympics and Usain Bolt’s 100m final is the hottest ticket in town. I suddenly find myself surrounded by Olympians.
It starts even before I arrive in London. As I board my flight in Auckland, I realise I’m sitting a few rows in front of a Samoan weightlifter. Several thousand miles later, it’s hard to miss the giant Chinese men in matching white uniforms, walking through Heathrow. They have to be basketball players, I think. The man next to me whispers the same thing to his wife. I spot athletes at lunch, reading books in the park, in the hotel elevator. I even spot a topless athlete during a fire alarm evacuation.
It turns out the New Zealand track and field team are staying in the same Cardiff hotel as us and were relaxing in their rooms when the alarm sounded. Apparently decathlete Brent Newdick would rather take his top off than be photographed with the wrong logo on his shirt. The women around us probably all agree the logo has to go. And the T-shirt. In a way, that’s why the Olympic Games are great.
Every four years we tune in and some of us like what we see and become fans. Then, over time, more and more of us will do exactly what the Chinese tourists did – find ourselves a bit “knocked out” and make a small fuss over Olympians who, quite frankly, deserve the recognition.
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